The Only Exception
by MandyLeigh87
Summary: One night. One rooftop. One chance to change her mind. One Shot AH ExB


**A/N: This is a one shot dedicated to the wonderful HeatherDawn! XOXO**

**This is also my very first one shot and it is entirely in Edward's POV.**

**Two songs inspired this, so please take a listen : ) "The Only Exception" by Paramore and "Our Song" by the Spill Canvas. **

I was always one of those people who thought up these elaborate reasons to make a relationship work. I twisted the truth to make every broken, fucked up relationship into this fairytale epic romance. It was never true of course, but I wouldn't believe it. I never believed that love could be anything but perfect. True love could never be stubborn, or broken, or difficult. It was always ideal and safe. Until I met her.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not _that_ guy. In fact if you take one look at me, I'd be the last person you'd ever expect to be a closeted romantic. Sure I put in the effort with girls. I never seemed to get it back, but I kept putting my blanketed heart out there to get smashed again. They never knew it because I kept it locked inside, but the pieces were always there. And I always had to pick them up and piece them back together.

I threw on my leather jacket and ran my hand over the stubble on my chin, a small consequence of my laziness earlier this morning. I grabbed my keys and headed out the door, hoping Esme wouldn't mind that I was late to our family dinner. My mother wasn't very fond of tardiness but as her baby boy she'd had a soft spot for me my entire life. I got away with more shit than my brothers ever could and I bragged about it like it was my job. Being a Momma's boy had its perks sometimes.

As I fumbled with my damn lock that the landlord still hadn't fixed, I heard something coming from the service stairs. I peeked my head around the corner, but there was nothing there, just a dozen or so steps leading up to the roof. I was about to shrug it off and walk away when I heard it again. A loud bang from behind the door. I waited a few moments, contemplating how late I was planning on being to the restaurant, before slowly making my way up the stairs. I pushed the door open and walked out onto the roof, letting it close behind me.

"No! Don't let it…" A voice chimed as the door slammed shut. "Damn it!"

A girl stepped out from behind me. Her arms were crossed over her chest and judging by the intense stare of hatred on her face she wasn't a very happy person.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter who I am. We're both stuck up here now!" She stomped her foot and walked over to the door, pulling on it with all her strength. It didn't budge.

"No," I said under my breath. "No, no, no." I ran over and gently pushed her aside so I could try. It was definitely locked from the inside.

She scowled and pushed me aside, pounding her fists on the door.

"That won't help," I said, sitting down against the concrete wall.

"Why not? Your dumbass obviously heard me."

"Considering I'm the only person who lives on the top floor besides Howard, we're stuck on here until maintenance comes up tomorrow."

"Who's Howard?"

I buried my head in my hands and sighed. "Howard is a thirty seven year old avid gamer who eats a steady diet of Cheetos and only leaves his apartment one time a year for Comic Con."

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. "Do you have a cell phone?"

I nodded and pulled my phone from my jacket. No signal. Not even one little measly bar. I shook my head and put it back.

"Great." She sat down beside me and pulled her knees up to her chest.

I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and finally got a good look at her. She was absolutely stunning. Even behind her hard exterior I could see how beautiful she was. My eyes traveled up from her pouty lips and rosy cheeks, pausing a moment before continuing. My breath hitched in my throat as I took in her dark brown eyes. They shifted from side to side across the roof and eventually met with mine.

"What?" She snapped.

"Nothing." I cleared my throat. "I'm Edward Cullen." I held out my hand. I guess if we were going to be stuck up here for a while we might as well introduce ourselves.

"Bella Swan." She took my hand and nodded before reaching into her bag.

"So Bella," I leaned back and closed my eyes. "Can I ask what you were doing up here in the first place?"

"Hiding from the landlord," she said softly.

"Why's that?"

"Because I didn't pay my rent."

"Oh. So you just decided to sneak up to the roof. Makes perfect sense." I laughed.

"Well I'm leaving town tomorrow and I thought I could avoid him long enough to get the hell out of here. I was even going to stay at the train station." She rummaged around in her bag some more and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it quickly. "But that bastard was on his way up when I was on my way down. I scampered up here just as he started pounding on my door."

"You're just leaving everything behind, just like that?" I cocked my head towards her and watched as the cigarette settled between her lips. A misty line of smoke escaped from her mouth before she blew the rest out into the night.

"I don't really have much." She motioned to her bag and shrugged.

"Where are you headed?"

"California." She took another long drag of her cigarette. "Then who knows. I'm kind of a nomad like that. I guess I have….commitment issues." She laughed under her breath.

I sighed as she reached inside her bag and pulled out a book, setting it on her knees and flipping it open to a random page.

"So you like the classic love stories?" I edged a little closer to her and nodded. "Romeo and Juliet."

"Not really. I find them amusing." She continued reading.

I've never heard a classic described like that. Maybe epic…tragic. Not amusing. Sure Romeo had some issues, but he loved so deeply. I secretly wished I could have even an ounce of that.

"Amusing? How so?"

She sighed and set the book down as she turned towards me. "Look at them. They're what? Fifteen? Meet and instantly fall in love. Bam." She snapped her fingers. "Just like that. And then they go and off themselves."

"But it's one of the most romantic love stories of all time."

"It's bullshit is what it is." She went back to reading and for some reason I felt incredibly defensive of my epic love stories.

"Okay what about Cathy and Heathcliff? Antony and Cleopatra?"

"So if you're so in love that you're depressed and suicidal you have the perfect love story?" She kinked an eyebrow. "I'm not saying love is perfect. I'm saying the opposite. And all these characters, they get that part right. Love is broken. It's complicated. It fucking sucks sometimes. But these?," she held up the book. "All they do is set people up for disappointment because the kind of epic love, as you call it, described? It doesn't exist." Her eyes burned with so much intensity, it broke my heart to realize how much pain and disappointment was behind them. This was something she believed with her entire heart.

And just like that this woman that I'd only just met busted every ideal of love I've ever had for my entire life.

"Well what about your parents?" I said quickly, grasping at straws.

"Victims of irreconcilable differences."

"So you're saying that kind of love doesn't exist?"

She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. "It exists, just not for me. Most of us are never going to experience that so why should I take the chance of getting my heart broken?"

"Well Bella Swan…" I leaned in close to her. "I firmly believe in taking chances."

We were so close that I could feel her breath on my lips. She tasted like smoke and candy, a completely intoxicating scent. I felt the need to be closer to her, even though at this point it seemed utterly impossible. This girl was pushing all my buttons and for some reason I still needed to feel her.

I wanted to change her mind. I wanted to show her that it exists. It exists for me. I wanted it to exist for her. For some strange reason I couldn't explain, I thought she deserved it. I closed my eyes and inched forward, anxious to feel her lips on mine. I heard her sharp breath before the raindrop hit my cheek. I quickly pulled back and looked up. Even in the night, I could see the dark clouds above us.

I looked around the roof for some kind of shelter, but there was nothing. I pulled my jacket off as the rain really started coming down and draped it over both of bodies as much as possible. Bella's hair was already drenched, but she huddled closer to me trying to get as much cover as possible.

She laughed a little as she turned towards me. She bit down on her lips as she glanced at mine. "Were you going to kiss me?"

"Yes." I admitted.

"Even after all that stuff I just told you?"

"Yes," I said again. "I wanted to change your mind."

She inched closer and closer, gauging my reaction. I didn't understand what she was doing until she lifted her head towards mine, giving me free access to her lips. I sighed as my eyes fixed on her pink tongue, hiding just inside her lips.

"Hold still," I whispered, moving closer. I took her bottom lip between my teeth and pulled it gently, sucking and savoring the little taste of her. Her eyes fluttered shut as she whimpered softly. She pushed her head forward in an attempt to reciprocate the favor, but I pulled back. "No. Let me show you." Her eyes opened wide as I grabbed her hips and pulled her onto my lap. I didn't care that we were both wet and cold, I was just craving the contact of her body against mine.

I pushed her dripping hair back from her face and leaned in closer, placing soft kisses down her jaw while my hands wandered idly around to her back.

"You think you're a real Casanova don't you?" She whispered, arching her neck back to give me better access to her slick skin.

My lips curled into a smile as I planted my hands on her lower back and ground her hips roughly against mine.

"Oh God…" she stammered as a shiver ran through her entire body.

I pulled my head back and gently grabbed her face, running my fingers over her rain soaked lips. Her breath hitched in her throat as she reached out and placed her hand on my chest. My shirt was so wet and stuck to my skin that I swear I could feel her heartbeat through her fingertips.

I finally licked my lips and dove forward, forcing my mouth to hers. I started out slow, taking my time to feel out every inch of her before diving inside. My tongue darted out to meet hers. They collided and danced with so much perfection that it made my head spin. She held on for a few more moments, finally allowing herself to give in before violently jerking back. She slowly rubbed her fingers along her lips, over the remnants of me. Her eyes were full of something…lust? Panic? Confusion? I couldn't tell what it was, but I wanted more of her. If this was a movie, that would go down as the greatest cinematic kiss of all time. But part of me was glad we were alone here, because I felt like she didn't open up like that a lot. It made me feel good that I could do that to her, that I'm one of the only people to see her like this. Coming completely undone.

She finally composed herself and sat back on my legs. "Well, that's that."

My brow furrowed in confusion at her reaction, but I didn't have time to ask her about it. She rolled off me and quickly reached into her bag, pulling out her iPod and headphones. She put them in and rolled over onto her side, using her bag as a pillow.

"What the hell?" I whispered to myself.

She didn't speak to me for the rest of the night. She didn't even look at me. The rain finally died down but it was still cold as hell. I watched her shoulders heave slowly up and down and I knew she was asleep. I cautiously curled up next to her and draped my jacket over the both of us before drifting off to sleep.

The first rays of sun woke me the next morning. I rolled and reached for her, but my hand hit pure concrete. She was gone. I sat up and looked around the empty roof, shaking my head. I couldn't believe she just fucking left without saying anything. I grabbed my jacket and threw it on, straightening it out over my body. I stopped when I felt something in my pocket and reached inside. I felt along and pulled out a crumpled up piece of paper that I knew wasn't mine. I unfolded it and realized it was a note from Bella written on some kind of receipt.

_Here's to finding what we're both looking for, Bella. P.S. There's a ladder over there. _A small arrow pointed to my left. In the light of the day I could make out the shape of the top of the ladder peaking out over the edge of the roof. I should have known there'd be some kind of fire escape ladder or something. I laughed a little under my breath at my serendipity like stupidity, not really sorry that I missed it, and tucked the paper back in my pocket.

I slowly made my way down the ladder, eventually coming to my own apartment. Thankfully I'd forgotten to lock my window or else I'd be climbing all the way down. I looked down at my phone and saw I had five missed calls from my mom. I dialed her number to explain the events of the evening.

"Edward? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did you get mugged?"

"No Mom, I'm fine. I kind of got locked up on the roof for the night, but I'm okay." I took a look in the mirror at my tired face and sighed. My stubble from yesterday was a little more defined on my chin than I liked it, but I was too lazy to take care of it right now.

"You were up there all alone?!" She shrieked. "You could have fallen, you could have froze to death, didn't it rain last night?" My mother tended to panic a little when it came to her children. I remember one time I skinned my knee when I was five and she insisted on taking me to the hospital so my dad could take a look at it. I think being married to a doctor made her a hypochondriac.

I threw my jacket towards the chair, but completely missed. It fell on the floor along with Bella's note from earlier. I picked it up and examined it more closely. It was a receipt for her train ticket. I glanced up at the clock and back down at the ticket. She left in less than an hour. In less than an hour she'd be gone from my life forever and for some reason that didn't sit well with me. She may not want this, but this burning feeling deep inside me wouldn't let it go. It wouldn't let her go. I bit down on my lip and glanced at the clock again, feeling like this was some kind of sign or something. Out of any piece of paper she had in her possession, she just happened to write her note on this specific piece? It was unavoidable.

"Mom I'm sorry I have to go I'll call you later." I slid my phone back into my pocket and darted out of my apartment. I opted for the subway to avoid traffic. I knew I only had so much time and it was going to be close. I couldn't lose her to traffic.

The train station was jammed packed with people. I looked down at the receipt again and tried to scan the board for her train. Platform 12.

I pushed my way through the crowds of people, past Platform 4, 6 and 10 until I got to 12. The train grumbled to life and I looked around frantically, searching for a piece of her beautiful brunette hair.

"Bella!" I tried to scream over all the noise. "Bella Swan!" I ran down the length of the train looking in all the windows trying to find her. I was running out of time. One of the workers stepped out onto the platform and looked around for any stray passengers and then the train slowly started inching away.

"Damnit!" I screamed, grasping at my hair as it pulled out of the station. I missed it. I missed her.

I paced around for a few moments as the crowd started to clear. This overwhelming feeling of defeat manifested somewhere deep inside my chest. I finally looked up, intent on walking right out of here and back out onto the street like nothing had happened. But there she was. Standing in front of me.

She smiled and casually walked towards me, her bag slung loosely over her shoulder.

"Well that whole yelling my name in the train station was kind of embarrassing." She shrugged.

"I don't…I don't understand," I breathed, pointing back to the spot where the train had just disappeared.

"I didn't get on the train Captain Obvious."

"But why?"

She took a few more steps towards me and dropped her bag on the floor. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her lips to mine. "I have decided," she whispered, "to take a chance."

**I hope you enjoyed it. If you aren't already, give my other stories a read and see what you think. Thanks!**


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